City schools plan changes to open enrollment system
School Board Representative Carol Wolf has written a letter to Richmond residents about proposed changes to the current open enrollment policies in Richmond Public Schools:
Dear Neighbors and Friends,The Richmond Public School Board is considering changes to the current open enrollment policies. I would appreciate it if you would review this proposed draft document and share your suggestions and concerns.
This draft procedure is being sent to principals for their feedback and I ask that parents and teachers weigh in as well. This is an effort on the part of the Legal, Legislative, Policy and Communications Committee to clarify and adjust open enrollment since out-of-zone transportation was virtually eliminated in the 2007/2008 budget.
Any new open enrollment procedure would not take effect until the 2009/2010 school year, but because the application process would begin this year, the school board hopes to adopt a procedure this fall.
Please let me know your thoughts, either on this blog or by e-mailing me directly at Wolfies@aol.com. Please send your comments by Friday, August 15 so that we may include them in the August committee meeting.
You are, of course, welcome to attend the August LLPC meeting to assist with revising this draft. It will be held in the 17th floor committee room on 8/21 at 11:30 a.m.
DRAFT-DRAFT-DRAFT PROPOSAL-DRAFT
Proposed Procedure for Open Enrollment
2009-2010 School Year
DRAFT–FOR PARENT & TEACHER COMMENT“RPS has a goal of making all schools exemplary. Each school has a focus on the success of all students, supported by a comprehensive system of needs analysis based on the school’s vision, goals, and data that drive priorities, objectives, and programs offered. “While children are encouraged to attend neighborhood schools, school choice remains an option. Students may apply to attend other schools with acceptance prioritized according to the following: “Priority 1 – Request for transfer from a low-performing school to a higher performing school Under NCLB, children attending a low-performing school may submit a request for placement in a higher performing school. “Priority 2 – Request for special permission to attend an Out of Zone school “Elementary: Parents may apply to any school with acceptance based on space availability through a lottery. Transportation is not provided. Any approved form is contingent on the parents providing transportation to and from school, the student’s regular and prompt attendance, and observation of school rules and regulations. “Special permission may be revoked if these contingencies are not adhered to. Special permission is granted for one year at a time. “In cases of unexpectedly larger school and/or class enrollment, principals may withdraw out-of-zone permission prior to the opening of school. Parents will receive written notice five days prior to withdrawal. “Secondary – Parents may apply to any school with acceptance based on space availability through a lottery. Transportation is not provided. Any approved form is contingent on the parents providing transportation to and from school, the student’s regular and prompt attendance, and observation of school rules and regulations. “Special permission may be revoked if these contingencies are not adhered to. Special permission is granted for one year at a time. “Request to attend a specialty secondary school/program. Rising 6th graders may apply to the Middle School IB program. Acceptance at this program is based on the students’ academic, behavioral, and extracurricu8lar performance. Rising 9th graders may apply to any or all of the High School Specialty Programs. Acceptance at these programs is based on the student’s academic, behavioral, and extracurricular performance. “While preference is given to rising 9th graders, consideration may be given to rising 10th graders who excel academically and have accrued sufficient credits to qualify as 10th graders in the specialty program.”
Priority 1 & 2 talk about NCLB and out-of-zone enrollments, does this mean that RPS are erasing the mega-zone lines? If so, I think that is fair and will help all neighborhoods city wide.
I don’t think this is fair – “In cases of unexpectedly larger school and/or class enrollment, principals may withdraw out-of-zone permission prior to the opening of school. Parents will receive written notice five days prior to withdrawal” – it would not give parents time to find another school or move to another neighborhood. This policy would cause folk to think twice before moving into certain areas if getting into a good school becomes near impossible…too risky.
Again here I find something unfair -”Acceptance at this program (IB) is based on the students’ academic, behavioral, and extracurricular performance” – some of the poor elementary RPS do not offer extracurricular activities. I wonder if kids graduating from wealthier schools with the certified teachers, technology, Accelerated Reader, arts and drama have a leg up on the kids attending poor schools with only the bare bones SOL based curriculum from Downtown.
A little off the subject here, what elementary schools did the students in the IB program at Lucille Brown attend? What are the stats?
Great questions, Gray. I will get answers for you. Parents whose children have been recently denied out-of-zone placements should pay careful attention to these proposed changes. Principals have contacted me who are very concerned that this PROPOSED POLICY injects greater instability into both school and family lives at times when we all need far more stability.
More questions:
Is transportation provided to Lucille Brown? If not, is this school eligible for NCLB students?
Does NCLB apply to the Patrick Henry charter school?
Lucille Brown, if I’m not mistaken, is not fully accredited so the NCLB policy would not be used to enter that school but instead to leave. The IB program is housed in Lucille Brown and does not have a zone or district. Students city wide apply like they would to the Governors, Open High, etc. I believe the IB curriculum should be larger and their methods and hands-on projects should be used in the ordinary classrooms. IB was orginally not intended for just those who could test into it.
I do not think the NCLB will apply to the charter because, like the IB program, it will not have a zone or district -all students in Richmond can apply and it is open to those working at all levels, unlike the IB.
Thank you. I am inferring from your response that neither schools provide transportation.
I would assume transportation to Lucille Brown is the same as all other RPS.
I believe the charter will not offer transportation at all.
The requirements of NCLB apply to all public schools, charters included since they are public schools in Virginia. The consequences of not meeting the state-developed goals are different for Title I schools but all public schools are expected to meet the goals or the schools and the school division may be penalized. Transportation does not factor into those goals nor does attendance zones.
If NCLB applies to the charters and the Governors school does that mean they must give slots to kids coming from low performing schools first?
AND it means that RPS MUST provide transportation to the out of zone kids who have been accepted through NCLB.
The local school division makes the determination regarding which schools can accept students from low performing schools that must offer choice and which students are eligible to take advantage of the choice option. This is one of those instances where the sanction only applies to Title I school. The Governor’s school is a totally separate animal. It is not a city school but rather it is governed by its own board with representation from all of the participating localities. If the local school division designates a charter school as a Title I school, choice may be an option.
Is Patrick Henry a Title 1 school? Carol, do you know?
One benefit that I see for keeping the megazones is that, since transportation is not provided, keeping the megazones affords more opportunity for carpooling or ridesharing. Erasing megazones could prove more costly overall because of the reality of transporting from all over the city.
Great input from all and thanks for getting the dialogue going Carol. I’ve heard from some 1st District folks about this discussion, so I’d like to add a couple of additional pieces of information: 1) Yes, this is an attempt to get rid of megazones–since transportation is no longer available for those students the megazone stipulation is unneccessary (but good point about the carpooling and energy savings.) 2) The 5 day notification is what’s currently on the special permission and out of zone applications, although my impression is that receiving such notice is not common b/c principals plan so that they can accommodate last minute neighborhood registrants without losing the out of zone students they’ve already admitted. But we need more than my impressions about how this all works at the school leve, so that’s the type of feedback we’re hoping to get from principals as we’re finalizing things. 3) I mistakenly sent out an incorrect meeting date–the committee meeting is scheduled for the 4th Thursday, 8/28 at 11:30. Sorry for the mixup on my end.
I received some answers this afternoon from lawyers concerning NCLB sanctions and will post responses after I clarify a couple of points. I have also received e-mail inquiries at Wolfies@aol.com concerning why it is that we are transporting elementary school students whose neighborhood schools ARE NOW ACCREDITED out of their neighborhoods to other ACCREDITED elementary schools. Please keep these questions coming and I should be able to provide answers over the next couple of days. Thanks to one and all!
This has the stench of elitism and segregation. Running away from a school doesn’t improve a failing school. Increasing enrollment at the ‘better’ schools makes them ‘worse’. Richmond needs to improve its schools all around. Accredited doesn’t mean the school is great, it means a percentage of the students have made minimum standards. Why not go to a school, walk around, and document who is not doing his job? RPS already has limited funds, what good will it do to pay to transport students out of zone? Removing kids from a school reduces that school’s budget and increases the lack of funds available to the principal to improve programs. It’s easy to complain about RPS when you don’t attend or have students their, but the fact is the majority of attendees are living some pretty horrific lives and the elite few who can afford to not attend have failed to realize they are harming the schools more than helping.
Before you start complaining about my grammar, I want you to know I realize I made a mistake. So there!
Teacher, my kids have attended poor RPS and I agree that “Richmond needs to improve its schools all around.” I’ve been doing my part as a parent but there are many in the RPS system not doing their part. You say, “Why not go to a school, walk around, and document who is not doing his job?” If you do that in a poor school with a gang mentality type administration, your child will be targeted. I’ve seen it happen many times. Also there is so much to report everything from threatening to yelling at the children, poorly written multiple choice tests, out of control classrooms with untrained unsupported teachers, teachers leaving in mass droves, prayers and religion in school as if it is legal….you have to choose your battles wisely.
Some schools do not welcome parent input. Look how all the museum district parents were chased out of their zoned school. There were three years of complaints to downtown administration and nothing was done.
So yes we should try out our neighborhood schools but downtown needs to empower and support the parents not chase them away when inept leadership is exposed.
To improve schools we need to work from the bottom up and top down.
Some parents in zones with poor performing or outright dangerous schools will send their kids to out of zone schools no matter what – even it means using GRTC. Which is exactly what happened when they eliminated out of zone transportation – kids alone on public school busses.
Not only is that situation dangerous, it also led to an increase in truant students.
Nice suggestion about the car pool, but I think you are missing the point. MOST city parents (as least where I live) DO NOT have transportation, or if they do, they cannot drive their children to school due to work hours.
Have you ever been without a car? Do you really know what it is like to rely on GRTC to get you to work, much less to day care and to your kid’s school? Broadly eliminating school bus routes truly harm our children and doesn’t produce very great savings anyway.
I would rather get rid of Wilder’s body guards to save money before I have to trust my children on GRTC. But, if I have to, my children will have to ride the public bus alone because I will not let my middle-schooler attend our zoned school as it is way too dangerous.
Just one more observation: The lack of transportation is the greatest contributor to the de-facto segregation of RPS. There are better ways to save money than to relegate poor children to poor-performing schools.
Gray, you bring up some great points. However, I think you missed my point about carpools/ rideshares in my post above (12) – because that is exactly the type of things that could help poorer parents. The children could get a ride to school with another responsible parent, not on a city bus by themselves.
Susan,
I really do not think car pooling is going to help. Most of us parents have to be at work and cannot participate in a car pool. Besides, I pay taxes and I want my school busses.
Yes, choose your battles… How about don’t battle… organize and vote. I know it isn’t easy but our schools aren’t going to improve if we don’t keep working to improve them. You want better quality teachers? Increase salary. Our good teachers go to the counties because they are tired of being treated poorly and the money is about the same. Don’t give me that no one gets into education for the money line, because teachers are more valuable than any other profession. You want better schools? Vote for people who aren’t afraid to make tax money go into schools. Even if it means more taxes. You don’t like waste or mean principals? Chase those suckers out of town. 200 community members making a ruckus can certainly make a principal disappear and get about 4000 voters to oppose a school board member and they will quickly be ousted. The problem is that most people want to whine when things are bad rather than go to work. As for other parents not doing what they should, keep in mind many of our students live with grand-parents, in group homes, or are homeless. Yes, it’s true. Don’t give up the fight Gray. Keep organizing.
teacher, I know for a fact that the teachers at Cary left because of the principal there -that is exactly what they told me.
At another school in the east end, two teachers told me they felt untrained to work in a city school and unsupported and that is why they had chosen to leave. Some of the teachers I’ve spoken with in private schools, offering significantly less pay, said they left public schools because they no longer wanted to teach to the multiple choice tests.
It certainly wouldn’t hurt to pay higher salaries -might attract the more experienced teachers. We should also look at the city schools where teachers are happy and ask why? Not all RPS loses teachers in droves.
Carol Wolf and Kimberly Bridges,
I think it is truely democracy at work when I see our elected officials on our community blogs answering questions and posting information. Thank you. Please check out the good discussion regarding school enrollment over at CHPN here http://chpn.net/news/2008/07/30/west-joins-school-choice-organization/ . I believe West’s idea of vouchers will only encourage more families to opt out of public schools.
Gray,
True Democracy is not a “spectator” sport. No matter what fine names we give to our institutions, or who we elect to represent us, “we, the people” need to listen to one another.
Good people — you, Don Harrison, Jon Baliles, John Murden, John Sarvay, Ross Catrow, Chris Dovi over at Style Weekly, Terry Rea — have all helped me understand the immediacy and the importance of the internet in helping our communities come together.
So, I must thank you and all the “bloggers” who cares enough to take the time to discuss what really matters. Thank you.
TYPOE: aargghh
So, I must thank you and all the “bloggers” who care enough to take the time to discuss what really matters.
Thank you.
Teach # 22: If memory serves me from past campaign work, many of Richmond’s voting districts hinge on only hundreds of votes, maybe 400 instead of 4000 when it comes to a school board race. This is how feeble political machines of barely competent neighborhood “leaders” allign with particular candidates and keep them in office. My point is that the balance of local power can be off-set with targeted community organizing. This school board behaves like an entrenched group more concerned with keeping their seats than improving the schools.
I have a question regarding the draft and secondary schools – currently my son attends an out of zone secondary school. We did not participate in a lottery when he was admitted last year. Would this mean, if the draft was adopted, that he could loose his spot as an 8th grader if his name was not chosen (or, like Hanover County out of district students, once you are in middle or high you are in for the duration)?
Thanks.
I’ve posted my thoughts on this issue on my website. You can see them here: http://jonathanmallard.com/open-enrollment-policy-discussion/
I hope you don’t mind if a blogger from south of the river joins in.
I think that this discussion shows that the draft “Proposed Procedure for Open Enrollment” is a bit confusing. The main problem is that it deals with more things than open enrollment.
Priority 1 has nothing to do with open enrollment. It is an entitlement growing out of the No Child Left Behind law. Under NCLB, when a Title I school does not meet its Annual Yearly Progress requirement, parents must be notified and they have the right to move their child to another public school within the district. In the City of Richmond the schools from which parents are entitled to move their children under the NCLB Public School Choice provision are Chandler, Elkhardt, Brown and Boushall middle and Reid and King elementary schools. (Chandler, Reid, King and Boushall met their AYPs for 2007 and may be on their way out of the Public School Choice requirement.)
The last part of Priority 2, dealing with specialty secondary school programs, also has nothing to do with open enrollment. These are programs in which children compete for admission and qualify on the basis of merit.
As for true “Open Enrollment,” we are dealing with situations in which parents choose not to use their neighborhood school and instead apply for their child to be admitted to some other public school in the city. Under the draft children may be admitted to a school other than their neighborhood school when space is available, subject to a lottery when there are more applicants than available spaces. Under the draft, parents must transport their child to the open enrollment school and admission is for one year only.
I have a few questions about open enrollment:
1- Why do we have it? RPS’s attendance zones are based on the assumption that children will attend their neighborhood school. Yet, some children are permitted to attend schools outside their attendance zone. Is it intended to fill schools that would otherwise be under-attended? Is it intended to provide school-choice for some of the parents in the city? Is it consistent with RPS’s stated goal of “making all schools exemplary?”
2- What is the origin of open enrollment? It is not something that is common in other school districts. In most districts children attend their neighborhood school unless there is some legitimate reason to enroll them elsewhere (location of parent’s job, location of child care, etc.)
3- How were the open enrollment schools chosen? Ignoring megazones, the open enrollment elementary schools are Fisher, Southampton, Cary, Fox, Munford, Bellevue, Ginter Park, Whitcomb and Woodville. Is it intended that these will remain the open enrollment schools under the new draft, or will all schools be open enrollment?
Other observations:
a- If we’re going to talk about racially segregated schools in Richmond, we need to look at the entire system. According to the RPS website, for school year 2006-07 (the most recent year posted) only about 7% of the entire student population attending Richmond Public Schools is “white.” This means that, no matter how those white students are distributed throughout our schools, RPS is a segregated school system.
Putting that in context, if about 35 to 40 percent of the city’s population is white I would expect that about 35 to 40 percent of our school population would be white. But our school population is only 7 percent white. This means either that white people in Richmond are particularly infertile or that they are not sending their kids to RPS. I suspect it is the latter. If we are going to integrate Richmond’s public schools, we must find a way of convincing white parents that their children will receive a quality education in those schools.
b- As to relegating “poor children to poorly performing schools,” the issue is more complicated. First, how do we determine that a school is performing poorly? Not by SOL scores. Schools don’t take SOL tests; only children take them. So, if children in a particular school do not do well on SOL tests, does that mean that the school is performing poorly? Many poorer students start kindergarten unequipped to learn. They have not had the benefit of one or two years of preschool. They start school behind and it takes them many years to catch up.
This does not mean that RPS can use the poverty of its students as an excuse. What it does mean is that if we are serious about giving our children in Richmond a quality education we need to start educating them at a younger age. We have to make sure that they start kindergarten as well prepared to read and do math as are middle-class children. Will this be expensive? Yes. Can we afford it? The real question is can our children afford our not doing it?
c- Are we in Richmond serious about the goal of making all schools exemplary, or is it just another slogan that we frame and hang on the office wall of all of our schools? To me it is unthinkable that we need an open enrollment policy that allows some children to escape their neighborhood schools. We cannot continue to accept it that students attending two different elementary schools receive vastly different educations. So, let’s stop worrying about open enrollment and get on with the task of making sure that all our schools are good as we can make them.
Regarding Gray’s post #23: My daughter’s teacher from last year took a pay decrease to leave the public schools and go to a private school because she actually wanted to spend her days teaching, not disciplining.
I am one of the problems, taking my kids out of the public system and putting them into private, honestly because the public schools seem to be beyond help. I’ve heard too many horror stories regarding th system and I can’t risk my children’s future
Guilty Mom,
Has long as we have the NCLB and the current policy of bringing the bottom up to pass the multiple choice SOLs, the urban public school system will remain beyond help. Bushes policicies are a deliberate attempt to kill public education.
Dear Friends,
I am on vacation right now and have limited access to e-mail. Dr. Brandon and the school board attorneys are preparing full answers to the questions that require a legal and authoritative response. I am assured that all concerns will be addressed in preparation for the LLPC Committee meeting on this topic scheduled for 8/28/08 @ 11:30 pm on the 17th Floor of City Hall.
I received some answers to our questions earlier, which upon analysis, simply engendered more questions. Once those questions are answered, I will happily post everything I know (and don’t know).
Meanwhile, anyone who wants to know the history of “open enrollment” in Richmond’s public schools should consult an excellent book titled “The Color of Their Skin: A History of Richmond Public Schools from 1954 to 1989,” by Robert Pratt.
Please continue to post questions, concerns and suggestions about how RPS can better meet the needs of our children and community. Many thanks to John Sarvay for allowing this forum and to everyone for weighing in. ~ Carol
Interesting points have been made. Mr. Berlin is right about the Title 1 piece and it is interesting to note that more schools in Richmond would be Title 1 if the students would simply apply for free/reduced lunch. However, this of course would mean that more schools would be subject to losing Federal funds due to failure to make AYP, in addition to other sanctions, see Petersburg for an example.
As to the race issue. . . first of all, our schools aren’t that dangerous. Secondly, the city of Richmond is failing to educate its adults as well as its youth and thus what role models have our impoverished students?
What our paranoid white parents fail to realize is that by keeping their kids out of our schools they increase racism, fail to provide an opportunity to share cultures, and take their dollars out of our schools, so they become even worse. You know school funding is per pupil based right?
Why is per pupil cost so high? Have you seen the number of special ed. students in our schools? Wonder why they are special ed.? I doubt it is because they are eating lead based paint.
Yes, it is true, the good ol’ boys are alive and well. They waste our money and call in their cronies rather than employing highly qualified individuals. Yes, they have their small groups that make 3-4000 votes in a district enough to get them elected.
Would Coca-Cola be the corporation it is today if the people running it were elected by the general populace? Would an appointed school board avoid cronyism? I doubt it.
There is no quick fix, but sure as I am a teacher, white kids, latino kids, and all the others need to be in our schools.
Bert Berlin, Thank you for your thoughtful and knowledgeable response.
I agree completely, prek is the answer to alot of these issues. But this thing people don’t realize is that unless the program is Headstart, there is no transportation. The VPI program is underutilized in RPS by the kids who need it most for only one reason — the schools don’t provide prek buses.
Also, our prek teachers neeed extra training and support. And teachers salaries need to increase to keep more good teachers at RPS.
Teacher- I agree completely! I am a paranoid white mom. (And I am Gulity Mom, not proud about it)However, it’s not a question of race with me and RPS. The grand total of white children at my daughter’s private school to 3; 2 of which are mine, so this is not about race. And trust me, as the money for that school comes out of my account every month, it hurts!
My issue with RPS is their inabilty to put the needs of students first. I do not lay all the blame at their feet. NCLB has been a ridulous farce. The second farce has been the peeing contest that goes on between RPS and City government.
I know that there are excellent teachers and adminstrators doing excellent things in our schools, and I applaud their devotion and commitment. There just aren’t enough them out there, and again, I’m not willing to risk my children’s future
I must take issue with Bert Berlin’s effort to continue to BLAME the high per pupil costs of RPS on the “Special Ed” population.
Of course, Berlin and RPS administrators want to blame these costs on those least able to defend themselves. Perhaps, someone can explain why it is that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of “special ed” students who DO NOT TAKE SOL tests, but whose successful completion of alternative SOLs count towards the highly touted MIRACLES claimed by Deborah Jewell-Sherman. Would that someone would also connect the dots that reveal a drop-out rate worse than a graduation rate that ought to inspire everyone on that alleged school board to resign.
In defense of Mr. Berlin, he didn’t blame special ed. for rising cost of education. I said that part of the reason the per pupil cost in Richmond is so high is because of the large number of special ed. students in RPS. This isn’t blaming, this is stating the facts. Additionally, RPS has very old decaying facilities which cost more than modern facilities to maintain.
As to students not taking the SOLs, that is not true. All students are taking them. Perhaps with the exception of severely mentally impaired. Though in the past you may have been right, I have witnessed the change first hand.
Guilty Mom, imagine what you and the other parents are spending on private school could do to improve the quality of a public school… Do you get a tax rebate from the city for your expenditures on private school or do you end up paying for a public education you aren’t utilizing? It reminds me of the babysitting problem. Both parents get jobs to pay the bills but then have to spend half the salary of one worker on babysitting. Seems to me a househusband/wife would be the better choice.
Teacher,
You might be married to Berlin your defense is so swift and equally wrong. Ever heard of VGLAs? Or VAAPs? Our special ed teachers sure have.
Spare us the moralizing about babysitting problems, puh-leeze, with the undercurrent of telling someone how to arrange the duties in their marriage.
Further, spare us the platitudes about the aging facilities. If only RPS “maintained” its aging facilities! The fact that the schools are not in compliance with ADA ought to give evidence to that lie.
These thoughts on the “aging facilities” require that I amend my earlier comment about the lousy school board members.
Wolf is the only one who doesn’t just settle for the lies and excuses. One brain, however, doesn’t absolve the rest. Thank you, Mrs. Wolf.
Firstly, GetRealRichmond, being nasty is not very useful. Secondly, one school board member doesn’t have all the answers. Third:
From the VGLA manual,
This assessment is only available to eligible students with disabilities and eligible students with limited English
proficiency (LEP). LEP students in grades 3-8 who are at level 1 or level 2 of English language proficiency (ELP) may
participate in the VGLA for the reading test.
By the tremendous numbers of Limited English Proficiency students enrolled in RPS I am sure there is sooo much impact.
Not to mention that even LEP students can’t graduate without taking the SOLs in English.
Fourth, from the VAAP manual:
The student must have a current IEP or one is being developed; demonstrates significant cognitive disabilities.
Do you think the teachers are running around trying to document every student so they can obtain an Individualized Education Plan?
Many, if not most, students with IEPs still take the SOLs without accommodations.
Some schools have designs that make ADA compliance nearly impossible.
Yes, repairing old buildings costs more than making modern ones and furthermore problems such as asbestos abatement, mold, poor HVAC systems, and other such joys of old buildings costs more to fix than is worthwhile. Not to mention that the building are hideous and poorly designed to function as schools. I imagine you’re still driving an Edsel.
Frankly, your sexist comment that implies I am a woman (Berlin’s wife) is really unbecoming of someone who is trying to make an intelligent argument.
Maybe your one brain should have thought about the importance of having plenty of signatures in advance of the deadline. Let me guess, the dog ate the homework?
Good morning, your friendly neighborhood moderator here. Just a quick request for everyone to feel free to chime in, argue, disagree or pat each other on the back but in the process let’s try to avoid the personal attacks. There’s some great discussion happening, and I’d hate to see it get lost amidst a lot of teeth-gnashing.
Thanks, John. For the record, as has been reported in Style Weekly, the Richmond Free Press and the RT-D, the record must note that either the representative from the 2nd District [Lisa Dawson] and/or/both the representative from the 6th District [Chandra Smith], had both opportunity and motive to remove two full sheets [50 signatures] of signatures from the papers that I left unguarded during a Student Discipline Committee meeting.
I do not know for a stone-certain fact that either [or both] of my colleagues actually ate or otherwise removed the sheets. I do know that they each had opportunity and motive and that the signatures somehow disappeared from that room that afternoon.
Because my “brain” is not wired as to anticipate this sort of a campaign trick, the citizens of Richmond and the Third District will either have to write my name in or accept that Mrs. Dawson and/or Mrs. Smith helped to ensure that there would only be only one name on the ballot this November.
Perhaps I should feel “flattered” as my dear, departed friend Oliver Hill once advised: “When people resort to cheating in order to win, they are admitting that they cannot beat you legitimately.”
As to the accuracy of the remainder of the remarks tendered by Mr. Berlin and “Teacher,” I ask that the readers of this blog check out the Virginia Department of Education website and other “fact-neutral venues.” I do hope our special ed teachers who have experienced a dramatic increase in the number of students will help educate the public about the nuances of the language of the special ed regs and the increased workload (without commensurate pay increase).
Anyone who honestly believes that building new buildings costs less than repairing and modernizing old ones should check out how much Chesterfield County is paying for new schools.
I have repeatedly thanked John for providing this venue to allow questions and discussion of RPS policy matters to take place.
I would not have indulged my penultimate posting had the information not appeared in the three other venues. Likewise, the ADA information is a well-documented matter of law and even the RT-D has praise today for the result of my efforts and those of Vicki Beatty to demand greater accountability and transparency from RPS.
I agree with, John. Issues, not insults.
Ms. Wolfe,
Have you got some data regarding the long term costs of building repair versus the long term costs of building a modern facility and maintaining it? If not, your argument holds no value.
Plant services has stated this, officials, who will remain unnamed, from the top floors of city hall have stated this. Logic works you know. Let’s take Kennedy High School for example. That building has so many problems that are expensive that it can’t even be sold. No one wants to pay for the abatement issues. Repairing hard wood floors in a school like Albert Hill would cost much more than a modern floor.
I’m not interested in insulting you, but don’t you think a loss of two sheets of signatures would have been insignificant if you had prepared a little more adequately? Is it that difficult to have recognized that having more than enough is better than having just enough?
Sorry if that hurts your feelings, but I get the notion that if you were so much in demand you’d have had plenty of signatures to spare. If you are in fact so popular, you’ll have nothing to fear as the number of write ins will be overwhelming to your opposition.
“Teacher” or whoever you are,
Get your facts right.
1. The name is spelled W-O-L-F. No “e.”
2. The school you are referring to is the old Armstrong — not Kennedy.
3. Individuals from Plant Services and the 17th floor of City Hall have played fast and loose with the truth for years, facts well-documented by City Auditor Umesh Dalal. See the two most recent audits.
Finally, ignorant people with no command of facts do not hurt my feelings. You do try my patience.
I have never claimed to be popular. I have always voted my conscience and fought for our children, teachers and families. I had plenty of signatures collected [far more than the 125 required], but the “disappearance” of 50 certainly presented far more challenge than I was able to surmount, to be sure. The registrar can confirm that I fell 14 signatures short.
As to whether I fear a write-in campaign, I have not declared that I am running a write-in campaign. If citizens of the Third District write my name in it will NOT be because I asked them to do so, it will be because they realize they have the power to do so and choose to exercise that power. Or not.
I have worked hard on behalf of our community and will continue to do so, regardless of people like you who find it easy to hurl anonymous accusations and insults. I stand by my record as a School Board member and will discuss and debate issues with anyone, anywhere, anytime. Just get your facts straight, first. ~ Carol Wolf
Well Mrs. Wolf, thanks for revealing that side of your personality that people are familiar with. Argumentative and trenchant.
I’ll admit that I made a mistake on the name of the school, but will you admit that 50 signatures could be obtained easily and you would have been wise to have had more than 200 signatures when a measly 125 are required. You said you lost 50. You had months to prepare. How hard can it be to have had this done in advance?
You are one of the people who approve the hiring and firing of RPS employees; therefore, if you think the executives and plant services are liars why haven’t they been fired?
Being anonymous is necessary as there are individuals like you who would take a personal vendetta out on my employment. I am protecting my family. I’ve been around long enough to know how these things go.
So long. I am sure your collaborative style of leadership will be missed after November.
“…there are individuals like you who would take a personal vendetta out on my employment. I am protecting my family. I’ve been around long enough to know how these things go.”
Teacher, you are right, there are individuals in RPS who have a personal vendetta out on certain employees, parents, and even students but Carol Wolf is not one of those scum buckets. In fact, Carol Wolf is the one that helps people who are being targeted by RPS employees and more would be accomplished if RPS administrators stopped participating in the school culture of lies, cover ups, and cronyism. And yes, there is a lot of cronyism in RPS…what else would explain the completely inept employees in charge of our children like the one ordering a teacher to pray at school, or the huge principal literally cornering a small teacher, placing a teacher in a time-out, or yelling at PTA parents. My favorite was the human resource guy acting all suprised by my family’s story regarding a bully principal when in reality he had already heard similar reports from teachers and parents. Yes there are some real shitty folks in RPS but Carol Wolf is not one of them.
I also would recommend parents to check out the VA Department of Education website. Just recently I read through some school report cards and it looks like there are some schools that are definitely safer than others. I was wondering about the incidents involving weapons reported, especially at the elementary level…when we read those numbers, by weapons, do they mean anything that could be used as a weapon like a fork or does it mean things like guns and knives? Are elementary kids bringing real weapons to school?
Well, we all have our supporters and detractors. However, preparation and collaboration go a long way in my book.
After all, isn’t that an important part of leadership?
Gray, nothing you said surprises me. I worked with a principal who was clearly racist. I reported a teacher for smacking a student, nothing happened. Yet, the mantra is always: You don’t know what goes on behind closed doors. There is truth in that as well.
Schools are not an employment agency. We should rid ourselves of those who aren’t involved for the right reason. But I don’t want to hear any of that you don’t get into education for the money crap. If doctors and lawyers get paid well for being highly trained, shouldn’t teachers be equally trained and paid? I can’t say how many times people have said we deserve to be better paid, but I can tell you how many times I have seen a citizen initiative to raise teacher salary: zero.
Let’s boil it down to this. . . RPS has a lot of problems both in and out of the system, but until the citizens of Richmond start working more intently to fix it, nothing much will change.
On a positive note, nice opening of the Olympics eh?
A pay raise should definitely be given to the qualified and educated teachers, especially the ones wanting to teach in the inner city schools. I’m tired of seeing the young teachers for only a year or two before they start applying for county jobs.